


Accession (The Aetherian Legends: 1)

by RavenSnyder



Series: The Aetherian Legends [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Accession, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Childhood Sweethearts, Childhood Trauma, Fluff, Gen, Gore, Kings & Queens, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Princes & Princesses, Raven Snyder, Sadism, Secret Identity, Secret Relationship, The Aetherian Legends, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-10 12:11:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10437474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenSnyder/pseuds/RavenSnyder
Summary: Eighteen years ago, an invasion of the undead started a deadly war in the Aether, putting the lives of the heirs of the four kingdoms at stake. Fleeing from the bloodshed and danger, the young children were brought into the Ether for their safety, and never to be taught of their true identity, as those who tried to warn them suffered a nasty fate...Not all of these princes and princesses lived their lives in wealth and splendor. Without any parents to take care of her, Ellinia grew up cynical and emotionally detached; her intelligence, quick wit and love for manipulation pulled her up the social ranks. Ryan, the innocent and charming child was prey to the demons of the world-he was adopted by a man that sought to make his life miserable. Though he was haunted by this abusive guardian, Ryan kept on charming everyone in his way.One man and his ideals stand in the way of the Aether's peace, hellbent on creating discord to achieve his means, his children following in their father's footsteps.Peace is short-lived for the Aetherians.





	1. Chapter One: Rags to Riches

**Author's Note:**

> I've been writing this original book for nearly a year now. Since it's pre-written, the readers can't decide the ending. This was supposed to be up on the first Friday of the year, but nah, school and daily procrastination brings us here today. SINCE IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY YESTERDAY (or 2 days ago for you Asians), I'm POSTING THREE CHAPTERS IN ONE DAY.
> 
> DISCLAIMER: If you don't like gore, controversial topics, no religion, messed up main characters, weird universes unlike our own (you may not agree with the way the law works), I recommend you to find another book to read. It's not everyone's cup of tea. 
> 
> Also it's a short chapter. CHAPTERS UP EVERY FRIDAY/SATURDAY. (It depends on which part of this planet you live in.) 
> 
> Enjoy. (THIS CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON WATTPAD, check my profile!)

* * *

#  **PART ONE:** _THE ETHER_

* * *

"Would you like to know the truth, my child?"

"Yes, please!"

"Only if you're ready." She chuckled.

The five-year-old nodded exuberantly. The young lady pulled out a book from behind her back, handing it to the innocent boy. He grabbed the book, eager to read. He recognized the book as the lady's journal. "This?"

"Yes." She rose to her feet, grabbing her things that were packed neatly into a bag, "It is time for me to go. Remember this. Anything that happens next is for your sake, and yours alone. My best interests are in you, your Majesty." With a grim face, she spun on her heel and left the small apartment. The boy sat on the pillow, staring at the door. He clearly didn't understand, but remembered anyway.

She will come back, right? Oh, how wrong he was.

So, he opened the book.

It was empty. The middle was cut open, the pages stuck together. A small note sat in the neatly cut pages of the book box. The boy took it out and read it.

_If you are reading this, I must have left already. Keep this letter with you and read it when you are older. You will understand the true meaning of my departure._

_Your mother had entrusted you to me a long time ago, to protect you from the evil and the conflict. Eighteen years later, I was supposed to tell you about this, but that is too far. I must tell you early, so you understand, and will not detest me._

The rest of the words had their letters scrambling here and there. Strangely enough, the words seemed to be buzzing around. He flipped to the next page. The last line was the clear.

_Thank you for all that you have done for me. I wish you a blessed life ahead of you. This is the last time you will be hearing of me._

He felt betrayed. He wanted to cry; he wanted to scream, beat his head on the floor until his head split apart, and then... But he didn't know what to do. So, he just sat there.

The sky crackled ominously outside. The kid dropped the book and climbed to the window, peering outside. The lady could be seen 20 floors below, walking away from the apartment block. He looked up to see swirling black clouds, then a bright flash streaked downwards. He cringed, clapping his hands to his ears. The woman trembled, covered with soot. Another bright flash of light, and she was down on her knees. Another, and another.

When the boy opened his eyes, all he saw was a pile of ash where she stood, the dust flying away in the wind.

* * *

"What did I do to deserve this?" The eighteen-year-old yelled, pulling on his chains that were attached to the walls of the basement. The light swung, making screechy noises. The razor tipped cat o' nine tails sliced deep into his back, splattering blood onto the stained floor. He gritted his teeth.

"You took your first breath." The voice cackled, going for another whip.

It seemed to go on for hours, until he passed out.

* * *

 A sharp pain exploded in my back, jolting me awake. "Fuck, ow." I wheezed, gritting my teeth. My voice was muffled in something soft. It was a soft feather-filled pillow. A pillow...?

I should be sprawled over the basement floor in my own blood. My back was tingling with the recent application of antiseptic. With all the effort I could muster, I pushed myself up and turned on the lamp. Three rolls of bandages sat underneath.

As I tried my best not to scream while bandaging myself, focused on studying my surroundings. The walls were covered with pale and dark blue damask wallpapers, a chandelier hung from the ceiling. The room was furnished with mahogany chairs, beds and tables; padded with velvet.

It was the most expensive room I'd ever seen. I got up, satisfied with my makeshift Egyptian mummy shirt. A door on my left was ajar. The toilet was fantastic. There was a nice bathtub, sink and toilet bowl, all of which shimmery white and clean. After washing up, I entered the walk-in cupboard. To my absolute horror, it was filled with dress shirts of all colors and designs, matching ties and suit jackets, a row of shiny black and brown suede shoes. No shirts, jeans, converses, hoodies. I didn't feel like dressing up today, but it seemed like I wasn't given a choice. I frowned and pulled on a plain set, minus the jacket and tie.

I pushed open the door, careful not to tear open my wounds. I leaned over the banister to see a copper brunette in his thirties reading the New York Times. "Morning. Come down and have your breakfast." He said.

I took my time to go down the stairs and sat down cringing in pain. "Don't feel like eating. Stomach's all screwed up. I don't eat much for breakfast anyway." A floating glove lifted the metal dish cover in front of me. "You'll have to get used to seeing that." He chuckled at my wide eyes of disbelief. I poked the white gloved hand. The hand waved at me, then shook my hand. The glove was smooth and velvety, and strangely warm.

"Oh, my god." I breathed. He laughed again, putting away the papers. His cheery amber eyes twinkled at me. For some reason, I knew that he was someone to trust. He wasn't seeding the idea in my mind.

There was a large glass of thick golden liquid sitting on the placemat. I picked up the glass and examined it further. "That's ambrosia. Drink of the immortals in mythology. Mortals who drink this incinerate their organs. Why don't you give it a shot? Here's some encouragement. We aren't exactly mortals. Don't believe me?" He raised one eyebrow, taking a sip from his own drink. "Ahhhh! I'm burningggggg!" He shrieked, trembling, then bursting out into laughter. "I actually got you. Come on! Give it a shot."

I blinked, then sipped the liquid. Surprisingly, it tasted just like warm honey. "Now that you are one step closer to believing me and understanding, let me introduce myself. I'm Lysander Montgomery, advisor and informant of the Court of Steelthorne. Nice to see you again after eighteen years, your Majesty." He chuckled and flourished his imaginary fedora with a bow. I barely understood what he said, but at least I got his name, right?

"Someone called me that thirteen years ago," I sighed. "She tried to leave, then was smited to ashes because of that."

"She was your mother's last maidservant. All the faithful members in her entourage have died trying to preserve your lives. Okay, maybe not. I'm not dead. Unfortunately, she was the last resort, and since everyone else that knew about how to survive in this realm died, you were entrusted to her and she left you when you were five? I thought she loved you like her son." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, she did. Or at least I thought she did." I sighed, recalling the great flash of light and the pile of ashes that drifted away in the wind. "'Forgive me, it is for the greater good.'" He falsettoed. I nodded. "Typical Imogen." He scowled. "It's your turn. I'll explain later."

"I'm Ryan Steele. You know the rest. Since you know more than I do, you should go ahead."

"Nearly there. You were given a pseudonym. Unfortunately, your life up till now has been a lie." He smirked. I suppressed the need to gasp like a girl and faint. Instead, I laughed. "It's a tradition for names of royalty to be a mouthful. Fortunately, I'm a lord's son, so it's easy to pronounce. Anyways, your actual name is Rythian Azrael Steelthorne. As you would realize by now, I serve you and your family."

"I don't think I should believe you, but I do anyway. The name's too long; just call me by the first name I already use." I said, placing the empty glass on the table. Moments later, the gloves picked up the glass and floated back to the kitchen.

"Please explain everything, because I barely understand what you're saying." I pleaded.

He chuckled again. "Sure. Ahem," He cleared his throat.

"Let me tell you of a world closer to this one than you think."


	2. Chapter Two: A Short Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fear not. Everything will be explained.

"For eons, the humans have co-existed with the Aetheric Plane, most without knowing of its existence. Long ago, humans who have contacted the plane accidentally or intentionally have been blessed, or cursed with power. This perspective will change; it matters which side of the fence you are sitting on.

"You are familiar with the term 'magic', right?" He continued even though I didn't reply. "There was a dark time in history where all those who were suspected of this power were burned at the stake. Humans call this power 'magic', and these people 'magicians' or 'witches' and 'wizards'. We call it glamor."

"So, you're saying that we aren't human? You keep referring to them as humans and not 'us'," I spoke up when he paused for breath. It was weird to refer them as different. If we aren't what are we then? Aliens?

"Yes, we are not. As compared to our powerless and short-lived kin, we are generally leaner and taller. The powers draw a wide line between the two races. Other than that, we have more stamina, physical endurance, a greater brain capacity but we are more susceptible to various mental disorders. And that's great." He winked. Mental disorders were great? I listened on.

"Centuries ago, we were driven out by the humans as they were fearful of us and our capabilities. We escaped to the Aetheric Realm, or the Aether, where we expanded the use of our powers. In this realm, we are only tied down by the lack of air-borne particles of glamor, which limits our strength. After the escape, we've only progressed, and when I mean progress, I'm not kidding. We have higher technology than those stuck in this realm." A black-billed magpie flapped over to sit on his head.

"Oh, meet Maggie." She blinked at me and tipped her head in semblance of a bow. "Aetherians and humans cannot procreate." He coughed, reading my mind. I narrowed my eyes, blocking my thoughts. "You should do that more often." He advised. Fuck. That was so _cool._ But creepy. "You're extremely readable." Lysander laughed.

"Moving on," He pulled out a blank scroll from thin air, spreading it on the table. I stared at the spot, but couldn't find anything wrong with it. "There are four Aetheric Courts." The four palaces were slowly drawn on the paper at the four corners, then painted in. He tapped the northernmost palace, sitting on a mountain in the clouds. "Your place. Court of Steelthorne, in Acierus, the main city of the Aether. Our season is spring. We deal with all affairs of the Aether; the management of how the Aether runs, etcetera. The element is air, and our domain is the skies. We have a great forest in our backyard, full of the best ironwood trees, and we make shield and bows. Of course, the sacred animal is none other than Accipitrimorphae."

"English, please." I frowned. "Birds of prey." He laughed.

"Next," He tapped on the western palace. "The Court of Mithrios. The city and other smaller towns are near the mines, where machines are automated to collect the ores and refine them. Their mountains are rich with precious metals, gems and stones. They make the Aetherian Syls, as well as securing the Aetheric Vaults. Their season is summer, and their element is fire. They are famous for their blade-smithing skills, and their blades are as sharp and durable as can be. Their sacred animal is the phoenix." Volcanoes were drawn between the western and the southern kingdom.

"Speaking about the Aetheric currency," A gloved hand zipped over, carrying a wallet and placing it in front of Lysander. He took out three silver coins, one gold coin and four notes. "These," He pointed at the three silver coins, "are 10, 20 and 50 leptae. Humans call them cents, pennies and dimes, I think. Anyway, these are the lowest denominations of Aetheric currency."

I picked up the coins and studied them. Each leptae coin had its number printed neatly, along with a different flower. 'The Aetherian Mint' was etched onto the side of the coins, and intricate patterns unachievable by today's technology was also etched onto the back.

"This is a drachma." He passed me the golden coin. "It's something like a dollar in our currency." Similarly, the drachma had the intricate designs printed on the leptae coins. "These are Sylvan Notes, Syls for short. They come in denominations of fives, tens, fifties, hundreds, thousands, five thousand and ten thousand. Looks like I only have these four variations of notes with me. The thousands are pretty hard to find anyway."

While I inspected the Syls, Lysander kept the coins. The five Syls note was a pleasant green, with Steelthorne's ironwood printed at the back. 10 Syls had a blacksmith from Mithrios, and with a fiery red color. An icy mountain range of the Valkyries was printed on the back of the 50 Syls note. A few species of flora and fauna were shown on the back of the orange 100 Syls note. I passed them to Lysander when I was done looking at them.

"The thousand Syls note is yellow, and it has an image of the Great Sages printed on the back, reading the stars. Ten thousand Syls have the various royal crests printed on it." Lysander recited. "Cool." I nodded, "Back to the map?"

"Next." He circled the southern castle with his index finger. "The Court of Prodigentia, the kingdom of nature, and their season is autumn. They have the greatest variety of species of flora and fauna. Arcadius oversees the food supply of the Aether, as they are experts in the field of agriculture and livestock rearing. Their domain is any form of natural land. All animals are their sacred animal, and their element is earth. These Incendian volcanoes erupt and fertilize the plains." The volcanoes promptly erupted and showered down some black soot onto the fields of crops, which were right next to the volcanoes.

"And finally, The Court of Alysworth. The Winter Court." He tapped the eastern palace. "The Crystalis, in the majestic town of Elysium, is the most beautiful palace in all of the Aether. Haha, who am I kidding. Everything there is beautiful. The women, the buildings, the scenery, the sirens. Heck, even the guys!" He laughed at my wide eyes. "Hey, I have a girlfriend by the way." He chuckled. "There's nothing wrong with being gay." I blinked. Now I wanted to see this place.

"Yeah," He continued with a twinkle in his eye, "All descendants of Valkyrian blood are great warriors, which means that those who aren't accepted into the Royal Valkyrian Guard are accepted into the Royal Guards of the other Courts. They have the best steeds in the land, priced in the hundreds of thousands. Their element is water and ice; their domain is the sea and the Abyss. Their sacred animal is the frostprey and the pegasus. We'll continue during lunch." He yawned and continued reading the papers.

"Okay. I'm going to take a walk around the manor, if you don't mind." His head shot up. "Manor? Pfft. This place is _tiny_." He rolled his eyes. I rolled my eyes, stretching, "If you say so." I rose to my feet. "Your wounds should have healed by now." He said. I stopped mid-stretch. "Oh." I said with realization. "Thanks?"

He laughed, then looked back down at the papers. I set off to explore the first floor. The kitchen took up the back of the level, followed by the dining room, then the living room. A large bookshelf lined the wall behind us, on both sides.

I went up the stairs to the mezzanine. "That's my room, by the way." He said without looking up. "Right at the stairs?" I looked down to see him nod. The second door led to my room, so I decided to push open the third door at the end of the corridor. It was another room, like mine, but it had a black wallpaper with silver, Caribbean green and icy blue damask designs. I entered the walk-in cupboard to find dresses of all types, and several dress shirts, vests and pants for ladies. The bottom shelf had a variety of covered shoes.

"Is this your girlfriend's room?" I shouted. "NO." He yelled back, "IT'S YOURS." I sighed, "Seriously? How do you expect me to fit into these?" I pulled out a pair of ladies' pants, the end not even reaching my ankles. He shouted again, "THAT PERSON IS COMING SOON; YOU'LL SEE FOR YOURSELF." I exited the room. "Alright. You can stop shouting now."

"ALRIGHT." He yelled, "Heh. Just messing with you, pardner." I rolled my eyes and went into the toilet at the end of the corridor, next to the third door, since there were no other rooms to check out. I closed the door and took off my bandages, turning around to see that most of them have scabbed over already.

Some had fallen out, showing a darker patch of new skin. So, this was the healing power of ambrosia. If it could so this, could it heal old scars?

I buttoned up my shirt and walked out to see a pair of floating gloves waiting for the stained rolls of cloths in my hand. "Oh, thanks." I murmured. _It is my pleasure, your Majesty,_ the gloves signed. An old friend had taught me sign language as a kid for fun, and I guess it just came in _handy_. The gloves sped over to the laundry area in the kitchen.

I slid down the mahogany banister of the staircase and landed on the deep red carpet. "Well enough to polish the banister for me, aren't you?" I stopped mid-slide, halting my progress with my hands. He laughed at me. "Don't worry. Our little helping hands are extremely immaculate. My, if there was an actual patch of soot on your shirt." He reassured.

"Sorry," I said, leaping off the bannister and sitting down at my seat. Maggie hopped onto my shoulder and sat in the gap between my neck and my shirt collar, trying to get warm. Birds liked me, but they never sat on my shoulder or head before. Maggie was surprisingly fluffy for a bird.

"It's alright. I won't bite." He winked. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thankfully he wasn't actually mad. "It's almost noon. And I'm ravished." Lysander whined. My stomach answered for me. "The ambrosia takes up loads of energy to heal, so you should be hungry."

Food was served to us by the gloves again. A plate of piping hot linguine was laid out in front of us, piled with a generous number of clams. "Ah, great. Seafood linguine in seasoned tomato puree." He pointed out. Another pair of gloves laid down a few squares of Kleenexes and cutlery. The first pair returned with thick clam chowder.

I almost melted in my seat with delight, from the scalded tongue or the taste of the food, I couldn't decide. "Mm!" I said with my mouth closed. "What?" He asked, eyebrow arching. Since my mouth was full of food, I could only give him a thumb's up. "Oh dear," He frowned, suddenly looking concerned. "I should have gotten you earlier, but that would mean that I would turn into a pile of ashes. Unfortunately, the Great Sages set a cumbersome charm on you that could only be broken on your eighteenth birthday. They like cliché stuff, I know."

I nodded, suddenly remembering something. "Yeah, I read that in a letter I got when I was five. I'm glad you did get me though. If not, I would have been stuck in that hellhole for the rest of my life." I sighed.

"Yeah, I know." He continued eating, not meeting my eyes. "It's not anyone's fault. I assume you couldn't do anything about it. How did you find me though?" The rest, though unspoken, was understood perfectly. "Imogen sent a letter stating that she would hand you over to 'someone trustworthy'," He spat the words out. "And that person was supposedly one of the Aetherians that she got to know growing up. So, I guess I just tracked him based on his personal information. Somehow, he managed to hack files to state that he was your legal guardian and claimed you when you were seven. He enchanted his manor so that tracking devices and any sources of glamor. You know the rest."

"It's a daily re-application of the anti-glamor charm. Yesterday, he forgot to do so, and I snuck in. I told the human police of this world, but they don't know who was the kid that was being abused. He's been sentenced to a lifetime of prison. But he has the bragging rights of making the headlines, I guess."

It was great that he was in prison. But that wasn't enough. I didn't care to keep my greed for revenge in check. Because I thought that he deserved to be chained to a rock have his guts eaten out by eagles.

Every. Single. Day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter, and we're done for today.


	3. Chapter Three: The Deathly Wars

#####  **Last chapter for today.**

* * *

"I'm just going to continue," He said, wanting to change the mood. I nodded, casting aside my thoughts and focusing. "Not only Aetherians live in the Aether. Other species do as well." A book shot to his open hand, and he laid it down to face me. The large tome was without a name at the front, surprisingly.

"Flip to creatures." He mumbled, stroking the spine of the book. The book turned its pages instantly. "Aetherians. That's us." He pointed at a drawing of a male and female, standing tall and proud. "There are, in fact, sub-categories. The Great Sages." The book flipped to the next page to show two old men who looked like Gandalf and wore similar clothes as Dumbledore. Another old woman stood next to them, reading the stars with a hand-held telescope. "They are astrologers, palmists, sense your spiritual aura and practice other prophetical means to see glimpses of the future. It's always 99% true. Not to mention, they have amazing memories."

"They're the most sought out when it comes to dire situations and even finding out the possible marriageable partners." I nodded, looking at a white-haired child look at a thick tome. "So, everyone has white hair?" I asked, feeling silly. "Yeah. That's how you tell them apart from everyone else. It's not hereditary; your hair can just start turning white. It's a sign." He pointed out.

"Next, we have the Valkyries." He smirked, sipping his chowder. "The Valkyries are the best combination of badass and sexy. Anyways, their female sovereign is Queen Reina." A tall and willowy woman, with a crown of crystals adorning her head, stood poised, flanked by her wolves.

Her knight was behind her, with a winged helmet on her head. Somehow the armor just showed off skin in the right places. "Ah. I see what you mean. But aren't they vulnerable with all that just exposed?" I raised an eyebrow. "Nah. It's Aclyx chainmail. It's invisible armor. They use this to distract enemies. It's overly effective if they don't know how to hone their glamor to charm their enemies. Once, one of them accidentally charmed their ally and he tried to kill himself. That's what my dad told me, apparently."

"Elves." The page flipped. "It is common knowledge that elves have their signature pointy ears. Has this 'idea' of elves changed at all in the human world? I mean, the last time I took a walk around and properly acquainted myself with this realm was when 'A Midsummer's Night Dream' was released. 1605. Heck, I was only 70 then. I'm a hundred and six this year."

"That was 36 Aetherian years ago. So, in the span of these 36 years, you aged 412 human years? That's 11.4444 human years every Aetherian year." I gave him an incredulous stare. "Nah. It doesn't work that way. Time warps between dimensions, and time is usually faster in the Aether. Unfortunately, time has slowed to match the human world's time because of the imbalance of power. The royals are usually able to tamper with large amounts of glamor, and without them, the time will be warped. Don't ask me; I never studied quantum physics between dimensions."

"Back to the topic." I pointed at the book. "Right. Sorry. As I was saying, elves are slightly shorter and thinner than us, and can only control elemental glamor. Most of them form our legion of archers and lightweights, and most of the ladies serve as seamstresses, ladies-in-waiting, and other similar job scopes. For some reason, spider silk doesn't stick to their fingers."

I nodded. "Thankfully, our society isn't as gender biased as the society in the realm we are currently in." He breathed a sigh of relief. I studied the pictures. Each type of elf was different, from their eye color to their skin color.

Air Elves had nearly transparent skin; Water Elves had a bluish tinge. Fire Elves were a faint red, whereas Earth Elves were brownish or green. "Got it." I flipped the page. "Nereids. They are shorter than elves, but are just as small boned. Nereids are keepers of water and ice, and mostly serve the Valkyrian Court. Sirens do so as well, but since they have tails, they can't go about on land. They give blessings, and sing for the Valkyrian Court. They oversee the naval defense of the East coast."

"Based on what I've heard from you so far about the Valkyrian Court sums up to this: Everything, everyone is beautiful." He snapped his fingers. "Yup. I'm not even kidding. There's a reason that 99% of beauty pageants come from there." I sighed. "Okay, moving on."

"Sylphs." The pages flipped. "Most of them serve our Court, but the rest of them make up the bulk of the messengers of other Courts. Wealthy ladies may have them as little maidservants. Sylphs are essentially a foot tall, and have glamored wings either gray, white, silver or yellow."

"Lastly, elementals. Like the name suggests, they control the elements and look like their element. There are two subtypes of elementals for each group. Air elementals include wind elementals and storm elementals; fire elementals include flame and jewel elementals; earth elementals include flora elementals or dryads, and stone elementals. Water elementals are ice and water elementals."

"And that concludes our session. Any questions? Feel free to shoot away." He went back to eating his food. By now, it was cool enough to eat without scalding your tongue. Since I usually ate my food scalding hot and fast, I didn't mind the temperature. It's not like I was given a choice. I scraped an empty plate. "Well, that can't be it." I tapped my chin.

"It isn't." The faintest shadow passed over his face. This obviously wasn't good, since he was trying to hide it. Even a fool would know that. The room was completely silent, the winds laying down a thick blanket. Did his emotions affect the environment?

"Eighteen years ago, we were invaded by the Undead from the mortal world. Somehow there was a tear in dimensions and both the corporeal and incorporeal beings were sucked into the Aether. All of them attacked us, and since we couldn't fend them off, many of our kind perished. This was coined as the Deathly War."

"Wait. Are these 'corporeal beings' zombies? Unkillable zombies?" I asked, and he sighed. "Pretty much. There are 'zombies', which are the easiest to kill and avoid, unlike the rest. Wraiths, ghosts, banshees and skeletons are a pain in the ass. We call this 'zombie' corpses."

"But we managed to defeat them?" I said. I was already starting to call them 'we'. Technically they were the same race as I was, but it just seemed _strange_. "Unfortunately not." The atmosphere was drearier than ever before. "The corpses have mob mentality, unlike the others. Though they operated in large groups of their own kind, they had brought their vengeance-filled minds back with them from the grave. They'll attack every living thing and try to turn it into their own. Fortunately, there is a genetic mutation in us that does not allow us to turn into one of _them_." He spat out the words.

"So, how did you get rid of them?" I drank the last of my soup. "We burned the corpses and skeletons with the fire of Mithrios, Pyrotheum. It's an extremely rare orange liquid collected from the fountain of a dragon's mouth in the castle. They would pour in fireflowers and other secret materials into the top of the fountain to produce this liquid. Once the liquid exits the sacred area, it starts to burn and become everlasting fire." A pair of gloved hands whisked away our empty plates.

"So, during this war, the fountain was scraped dry for this resource? And how do you kill ghosts, wraiths and banshees?" I asked, curious. "Yes. I'm getting there, so hold your horses."

"Holy shit. Ice-cream!" I gasped, finishing my food quickly. A pair of gloves placed mint and chocolate ice-cream in front of me. "Oh, my god. I love this." I gushed. He sighed and shook his head in disbelief, concern in his eyes. I shouldn't have said that, should I? Wrong timing.

"The nectar of Midil Frostflowers can be extracted for reducing the spirits to goop. We would dip our weapons in this acidic nectar, which would last for a week. Unfortunately, once again, the odds were never in our favor. We discovered this secret recipe just after the war. On that weird day that the Undead just stopped attacking."

"Mm." I swallowed my ice-cream. "Crystallized Midil is powder made from grinding the flowers. This is used in the same way as well." He added.

"So, were there any important people killed in the war?" I ate another greedy scoop of ice-cream. "Yes. Many died." He hid his clenched fist under the table. I gulped nervously.

"Queen Reina lost her husband in the war. A ghost possessed him to stab himself. Then Richard Prodigentia was skewered by Queen Consort Iroquois Attkisson. He was a great man, Marquis of Mithrios. Queen Anastasias of Mithrios died protecting her three-year-old son from a skeleton. Your mother, on the other hand..."

Blood drained from my face. She died, didn't she? "She passed just after the war... Just collapsed from fatigue and stress, and gone the next moment. The Undead marched into the Aether just weeks after you were born. But by then, you were already out of the Aether along with the other kids."

"When your father knew of your mother's death, he just dropped everything and locked himself up in his room. He didn't eat for weeks, and when my dad got him to open the door, he was on the edge of death. Apparently, that's what your grandfather did when your grandmother died of old age. He died from grief and starvation soon after, and the throne was passed to your dad at the age of 40. I guess it runs in the family. I'm not jinxing you whatsoever, so don't take it to heart, okay? And if you even THINK about doing that, I'm going to fucking grab you by the collar and throw you out of the tallest fucking tower in the Aether."

He fumed. I shrunk back in my chair. His hair was steaming! Lysander got up, the chair nearly tipping over, starting to pace by the entrance of the kitchen. His hair suddenly combusted into flames with a roar, little tufts of fire flying out. One nearly landed on my face, but thankfully it fizzled away, still scaring the living hell out of me. I shrieked, then blinked in shock at the pitch of the screech. "Sorry—," He turned around, patting his hair to smolder the flames. "Didn't mean to scare you. To explain this," He summoned a puff of flames in his hand, then extinguished it. "My grandmother was from Incendia."

"My face nearly got melted off." I breathed a sigh of relief. "Ah, sorry about that." He grinned at me sheepishly, taking a seat. "So, uh," I changed the topic, "is there anything else that I need to learn?"

"Oh, plenty. You'll need to learn to fight, control your glamor, and to transform—," He got up again, "Into this." With a dark red puff of smoke, he reappeared in velvet burgundy tails, along with a black jagged cape flapping behind him from the gusts of wind that appeared out of nowhere. "Okay! I get it." I yelled through the wind. I tried to rearrange my hair, which was forced to part from the back due to the absurdly strong wind. The cutlery rattled in response, as if telling him to stop.

"Sorry about that." He stopped the wind from blowing, placing his hand above my head. An electric current passed through my hair. "Woah." My hair shot upwards, and landed nicely, like how it was in the first place. "You're welcome." He grinned, sitting back down with a puff of smoke.

"Neat trick. When do we start?"

"Hold your horses. We'll begin tomorrow. The next week's gonna be hell for you, so you'd be better off going to sleep early tonight."

* * *

#####  **And we're done. For now.**

#####  **NEXT CHAPTER UP ON FRIDAY/SATURDAY. Check out Wattpad if you prefer reading it there; link's on my bio.**


	4. Chapter Four: Old Friend?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> o.o
> 
> THE ARCHIVE WAS DOWN YESTERDAY. Of course this was late.  
> Enjoy; there's a new main character that's going to be introduced today.  
> I changed the warnings.  
> I figured that if there's gore or huge violence, I'd warn you guys.

“Morning,” Halcyon Palethorpes yawned and stretched like a cat. I rolled my eyes at the red head. “Been waiting for over an hour, dammit.” I got off the table. She fixed her hair into a high pony tail, pulling out her streak of silver hair in her fringe.

“Sorry, Princess.” She yawned again, grabbing her things. I had my dual katanas in the dimensional space, ready at my command. A few other blades were already sitting in my boots and hanging on my belt. “You done?” I sighed, walking towards the front door, sitting on the porch. She didn’t reply, but I could hear her packing up hurriedly.

“Hooo.” Halcyon’s snowy owl landed on my head. I grabbed the bird and placed her on my lap. Aeris preened her feathers and leaned against me for warmth in the chilly autumn weather even though she had a thick coat of feathers herself. “Yeah, let’s go.” Halcyon slipped into her jacket, shutting the door behind her. “Did you grab the Gloved Servants?” I reminded. Aeris flapped away to sit on her master’s shoulder. “Yup.” She pointed at the small velvet sachet attached to her belt loop.

“Off the porch.” She reached for an ornamental hair comb attached to the wall next to the door and spun it. “Step back.” I was already a dozen feet away from the wall at the end of the alley way, where the house disappeared into the wall. She turned around to check. “Okay, just making sure, Princess.” She laughed.

The two-story house was sucked into the comb. Halcyon caught the comb with her shoe, and tossed it up into her hand. “Stop calling me that. You said so yourself.” I walked off, waiting for her to catch up. “It’s a habit.” She stuck the jade hair comb into my braided bun and grinned at me. “Looks better on you.”

I nodded a ‘thanks’. “We’re heading off to one of the alleyways near Central Park. A ten-minute walk, if you will. Here’s a chance to practice cloaking!” She grinned up at me. I reached out, feeling a tingly sensation in my fingers, then pulling it to wrap around us like a cloak. “Hey, too much there!” Halcyon waved her hand, getting rid of the cloaking I had accidentally placed onto the walls of the apartment buildings. “Well, thankfully no one was looking.” I breathed a sigh of relief. The walls were transparent just a moment ago.

“So, where exactly are we heading?” I asked again. “Oh. We’re going to my boyfriend’s PH.” She grinned, excited to see him. “PH?” I prompted. “Portable Housing, or PH for short.” I nodded, walking out into the main street. “Anyone else going to be there?” I caught the suspicious twinkle in her eye. “Yeah, you’ll like him. It’s none other than His Majesty Rythian Azrael Steelthorne.”

“Hmmm. Okay then. He sounds like a rich prick, though the name sounds quite familiar. Since you told me that our names were ‘humanized’, that is obviously his Aetherian name. Except for mine, strangely.” She nodded, making a turn. “How about Ryan Steele?” Halcyon suggested.

“No fucking way.”

“It was just a suggestion.” She was confused, her cantaloupe orange aura telling me so. “Okay, then.” I rolled my eyes, focusing on walking ahead.

Ryan Steele was my pre-school through middle school friend. I had known that scrawny kid for at least one decade. Just knowing that he was an Aetherian Prince, a fellow royal, was absolutely absurd. As absurd as the ‘my dog ate my homework’ lie. Was it too good to be true? Maybe. But the odds?

“Wait. You know him?” It was Halcyon’s turn to stop in her tracks. “I didn’t say anything of the sorts. What made you think so?” I toyed with her. After seeing that she was at a loss for words, I continued, “It would be a nice coincidence if I did.” She caught up to me, running, “Oh my Heavens.” I did a double take after a few seconds. “Like sky?” She nodded. “We all cuss like that. Ain’t no gods in our realm.”

“But the Valkyries serve Odin.” I raised my eyebrow. “The Great Sages heard of the Valkyries from Norse Lore, and decided to grant the power to the new Queen. She could decide to keep the power to her lineage, ensuring a 100% chance godly powerful being, or share it with the rest of her people. Of course, she did share it, and that’s why we’re here today.” She grinned. “History is great.”

“Agreed. Give me the Aetherian Lore book. I need to read it.” Halcyon gave me a thumb’s up. “Okay then. How’s your boyfriend like?” I asked, pausing at the edge of the pavement, waiting for the man to turn green. Halcyon was a cute, bubbly, and petite for Aetherian standards.

“I’m blessed with the best guy ever…” She trailed off. I sighed, no waving objects would uncross her eyes. “You’re obsessed.” I sighed, walking off. “Hey! Wait up!” She yelled, running to keep up with my long strides. “By the way, how old are you?” She looked up, thinking. “One hundred and thirty. Why?” I shook my head, “Just wondering.”

We walked for another 5 minutes before we reached the desired alleyway. Central Park was within walking distance. “Just make yourself at home. Your room should be the third from the left.” I nodded. She knocked the dark blue door, which was shortly answered by a brunette with the eternally messy hairstyle, slightly taller than me. Halcyon seized the opportunity to tear off the cloak of glamor, and for some reason it felt like a blanket was lifted.

He yawned, raking his hand through his hair, the other covering his pearly whites. “Hmm. Morning.” He wiped away the tears caused by the yawning. Halcyon slapped him lightly on the cheek. “Hello?”

I should get in before they start with the cheesy romance. Since all the exits were blocked, either by people or by closed windows, I was in a spot. Maybe not, I remembered, grinning. I reached for the glamor around me, flowing into my hands and spreading throughout my body. I could see the love birds surrounded by a gaudy pink haze, whereas mine was indifferent transparent yet relaxed blue. I swirled my glamor around me, and in less than a fraction of a second, I was closer to the ground, tail up in the air.

* * *

 

I grinned at my new AeTech Glass phone, short for Aether Technology, the Etherian’s Apple of the Aether. The stock market showed that the economy was stable, and the history said that it had always been, since the Aether did not trade with the mortal world. I noted down several stocks to invest in later, as they looked like they had potential. The door swung open, a gust of chilly air flying in. Lysander blocked my view of our guest, which hugged him. Seemed like his girlfriend was here.

If she would share the same bedroom as him, then the room next to mine would be left empty. That meant that his girlfriend would not have come here alone. Then again, the room looked like it was for a lady, since there were dresses and heels. Only time will tell, I guess.

A solid silver Siberian cat entered by the gap between the door frame and their legs, sitting on the welcome mat. It yawned, covering its mouth with its paw, something I had never seen a cat do before. It glanced at the crystal chandelier with its aqua green eyes, then begun to trot towards me with its tail in the air. I saw all this from the corner of my eye, still looking at my phone.

“Maow.” The cat greeted, making me look up as I felt a weight on my shin. “Oh, my heavens.” I caught gushed, picking up the cat and placing it onto my lap. It curled up in my lap, purring while I scratched its head. I smoothed its fluff from its head to tail, while it sat up again and poked me in the stomach. “What’s up?” I asked it. The Siberian pointed at the two standing at the door and stared up at me. “Looks like they’re going to stand there for the next five minutes.” I chuckled, placing the cat in the crook or my arm.

It meowed loudly, startled. “Stay here, don’t jump off.” I told it, placing it on the marble island table in the middle of the kitchen. It waved its tail in agreement, so I turned my back to it. I grabbed the mint chocolate chip ice cream from the fridge’ sliding my phone into my pocket.

“Pass me the chocolate ice cream,” A sultry, relatively deep female voice said. “Thanks, poppet,” She added; an afterthought. I grabbed the chocolate ice cream, closing the fridge door with my foot. A fit and lean eighteen-year-old sat cross legged on the table, blowing her silver fringe out of her face and grabbing the chocolate ice cream from my hand. “What the fuck—”

She cut me off, laughing, “Get on my league, mate.” I sat at the high chair on the long side of the island table. I passed her a spoon from the cup on the table, and she tucked in.

I got a second look at her. The silver hair was strangely familiar. I had seen her somewhere before, hadn't I? “Do think harder.” She prompted, reading my mind. “Did you just read my mind?” She laughed again, grinning, “It's either I'm really good at reading your expression, or I'm psychic. I’m definitely not the latter.” An image popped to mind. I snapped my fingers. “You’re thinking of Lady Reina of the Valkyries, aren't ya?” She stole the words out of my mouth. I nodded, raising my hands in defeat. “Yes, and I'm remembering Lysander telling me that the ‘royal blood of the Valkyries are indicative of the amount of silver locks on the head of the person.’” I imitated his slight British accent. She laughed again, halfway done with her ice cream. “I'm unimpressed, math genius. Let's get to the point here.” She cleared her throat. “Answer me honestly. How many people have you seen that look like me, not including Queen Reina, poppet? And how many Heavens damned people call you ‘poppet’, for fucks sake?”

She was irritated, to say the least. “Silver haired people: one. Poppet? One. And that one, is you, Princess.” I tried to buy time. Unfortunately, she caught on. Seemed like she knows me well. “Come on, Ryan.” She sighed, looking at me. I felt bad for not remembering, for disappointing someone that I forgot. I looked down at my ice cream, eating the last scoop. “Sorry.”

“No no no, please don't feel like it's your fault!” She turned to face me, lifting my face with her slim fingertips. “It is my fault.” I felt the sins crawl up my back. “No, it's my fault, because I can't help it. Do you feel better now?” Her voice trembled with worry. Cold sweat was forming on my temples, and I was shaking like a leaf, for some reason, one very minuscule part of my mind was telling me that I was shaking very unreasonably. “I'm scared.” I could hear Lysander admit to his girlfriend. “Yeah, me too.” She trembled, “I've done bad things.”

I saw her leave, dumping her trash into the bin and disappearing upstairs. The door slammed, and the temperature increased significantly. I breathed in a breath of fresh air, getting up from my seat and throwing away my ice cream. “Ellinia!” Lysander’s girlfriend exclaimed, shooting in. “What did you call her?” I asked, realization dawning upon me. “Well, if you haven't already figured, she’s the Princess of the Valkyries, Ellinia Sylvi Alysworth. I think she said she knew you earlier on— “

By then, I had shot upstairs to her room. I knocked three times, waiting outside. “WAIT!” She screamed, so I sat outside and stretched out my legs. I could feel vibes telling me to run for my life coming from the door, but I gritted my teeth and sat outside, not moving an inch. I couldn't believe that I had actually forgotten my best friend, comrade, and crush. Fuck. I'm an idiot. I guess it had been years. No excuses, a voice reprimanded in my head.

After approximately 5 minutes and 35 seconds, the door opened. Ellinia closed the door, sitting next to me. “Sorry about that,” she gave me a sheepish grin, “I forgot to eat my antipsychotics. Let me show you what was happening just now.” She took my hand in her eternally cold hand, and suddenly a myriad of colors flashed into view.

“Emotions. I can control people’s emotions.” She waved around us. “See that Payne’s gray around you? That's dread and pewter’s fear, which I accidentally caused just now. A little bit of disbelief there; the wisps of purple. Forest green; you're happy to see me? Awwwww.” She gave me a hug out of the blue, letting go of my hand. “Yeah. Hey. Nice to see you again.” I hugged her back. Her face was in the crook of her neck, I noticed out of the corner of my eye. Woah.

As usual, she smelled like mint and winter. “You're blushing, poppet.” Ellinia laughed.  I noticed the baby pink wisps darting in and out of the mix of colors. “You need to calm down.” She grinned, breaking away from the hug. Suddenly I relaxed willingly, by an unknown force. “I pulled out the blue from the green. Calm pale blue.” She explained.

“Cool.” I nodded. A sly grin crept onto her face. “What's up?” I raised my eyebrow. She came an inch away from my face. I gulped, my face burning and a spot in my pants tightened. “Okay, you got me. Now spill.” I couldn't move an inch, unless she was trying to make me kiss her, but she wouldn't think of doing that, right? Oh, my Heavens, save me now. HELP, I screamed internally.

“Ha! You've still had a crush on me, huh? After all these years?” She whispered. I closed my eyes. I was willing to dive into a well and live there for eternity—Okay, maybe not, but you get my point. “Cat’s outta the bag; you got me.” I raised my hands in defeat. Ellinia moved back, allowing me to draw my breath. “Aww, you're so cute!” She gushed. I widened my eyes. “You're such a flirt with other ladies but you’re but a little kitten with me~”

“A-and you're such a flirt with me, but not to other guys—” I retaliated, but was cut off. “Because I don't like anyone el—I mean; other guys are jerks!” She caught herself. I grinned, regaining my confidence. “I didn't hear that properly. Mind if you repeat it for me, love?” I played in my trump card. Her pupils shrunk and stretched, to form a cat’s eye, twitching in irritation. Suddenly, just like a light bulb lighting up, her eyes gleamed in mischief. “I'm not going to repeat myself, poppet.” She rose to her feet, leaning down to give me a peck on my forehead, and slid down the bannister. “GET DUNKED ON, SON.” She hooted in glee, cackling. A small barrier around us shattered as she left.

I sighed getting up, leaning over the bannister. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Ellinia.” I walked down the staircase, scowling. Lysander and his girlfriend poked their heads out of the kitchen, looking at us like the aftermath of a nuke. Ellinia was tearing up on the plush armchair, seized by fits of laughter. “What happened?” Lysander asked, walking out of the bomb shelter. “I got juked.” I sighed. “Let's not get into details.”

“Gloves are serving. Let’s eat lunch.” Halcyon gestured, and we all proceeded to sit at the dining table. “Heh. Sorry.” Ellinia wheezed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Saturday.


	5. Chapter Five: Secrecy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's another chapter, and secrets are going to be revealed soon! Stay tuned. Also, huge thanks to TheArtsyNerd for the first bookmark!

After everyone acquainted themselves with one another, lunch was over. “Oh yeah,” I piped up, passing the gloves my plate. “Can I use the HealthTech equipment in your basement? If you have any, that is.” I got up from my seat, pushing my chair in. “Wait, what for?” Lysander asked, getting up as well.

“Oh. I need to fix up my plantar fasciitis problem—” I waved it off, but was interrupted by Ryan’s interjection. “Plantar what?” I sighed. “There are little tears in my tendon of both my feet, and when I overexert them, they tear further. Very restrictive, very painful and annoying.”

“Well that sucks.” He replied. “You don’t say,” I rolled my eyes, gesturing for Lysander to lead the way. He gave me a thumb’s up, walking to the bookshelf behind the dining area. “Remember; the Merchant of Venice.” He tapped the book, then pulled it out. The floor dropped out in a spiral, unfolding to form a staircase.

“Thanks.” I grinned, heading down. “Hey, wait up!” Ryan got up quickly and followed me down. “I’m going to sort out my stuff.” Halcyon peeped down and pulled Lysander along. As Ryan got off the last step, the stairs folded back up. “HealthCube or HealthPod?” He asked.

“Cube.” As I stepped towards the glass cube, the glass doors parted and closed both of us in. I tapped the floating screen next to the bed, selecting the chair option. Two flat chair-sized strips rose from the ground and formed seats. The walls of the cube simultaneously darkened, giving us privacy. We took our seats, and holographic screens appeared above our laps.

“Not the patient.” Ryan waved the screen away. The words ‘How may the HealthCube serve you?’ appeared on the screen. I selected the ‘Scan Me’ option, and waited for the machine to finish its job. A small orb rose from the ground, and blue rays scanned me. It sunk back down into the floor, and the data was uploaded to my screen. A body that was spread eagled took up the screen.

“Is there a voice to narrate the text? I’m too lazy to read it all.” I complained. “ _Yes, your majesty._ ” A female voice replied. “Thanks.” I selected the feet of the body on the screen. “Two pending issues. Loose ankles and plantar fasciitis. Would you like to undergo treatment for both issues?” The HealthCube asked. “Hell yeah. Will it fully cure?” I accepted the treatment request.

“ _It will cure fully if you do not over exert it again. The treatment shall begin. Please be warned that the average pain rating is 8/10. Would you like anesthesia?_ ” I replied, “Fine, but I don’t want to get knocked out. Just enough to make sure I don’t feel my feet.” The arm of the chair flipped my arm to inject anesthesia. Right after that, a box enclosed my feet and ankles. _“We will be injecting ambrosia, it will fix the tears as much as possible. Please bear with us.”_

“Can’t feel my feet.” I remarked. “Alrighty then.” Ryan replied. Using the screen, I moved my chair backwards, directly behind him. He followed suit, but turned his chair around instead. “Can we get a table, please?” I asked. A table rose from the ground between us. “Ah. Perfect.”

“So, how long will this take?” He asked. “ _An hour, your majesty_.” The HealthCube replied. “Do you have any problems you would like to fix?” He hesitated, then replied. “Uh, no? Not now.” I eyed him suspiciously. The piece of shit had been hiding something from me for the past ten years. He didn’t notice my eyeing, so I glared at him instead. That got his attention.

“Wh-what are you glaring at me for?” He stuttered. “Nothing.” I drummed my fingers on the table. He shivered, “Don’t drop the temperature.” I clenched my fist, and the temperature went up again. “Sorry. That was unintentional. I’m not forcing you to tell me; tell me whenever.” He gave me a confused look.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you; I do. But I just can’t bring myself to say it, you know what I mean?” His voice was lower than a whisper. “I won’t judge you.” I confirmed his doubts as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Sorry.” He stared at the swirly designs on the table. “Yeah. Me too.” I sighed, moving my chair to sit next to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist, and the chair accommodated to fit two. We sat there for a while, the silence engulfing us.

“You’ll never be able to figure it out.” He said with certainty. “Oh yeah?” I drew away, and crossed my arms. Challenge accepted. “What if I did?” He laughed. “Well, I’d be darned. I’ll pay you a million Syls.” I rolled my eyes. “Where the hell would you get that money from?” Ryan grinned, chuckling. “When I get my hands on the stock market, I’m going to use dollar notes as napkins.”

“If you say so.” I shook my head, knowing perfectly well that he wasn’t lying. “I need to get more meds. I think you need to _start_ eating meds.” Two squares simultaneously lowered over our heads, and retracted after a few seconds. A large screen popped up in front of us, divided by a line. “No big new here. Explosive Sadism Disorder, Fractional Alexithymia. Unlike the rest of the population with this disorder, you are not a paraphilic.” He looked confused. “Alex—what? And what was the last word?”

“It means that I’m fractionally emotionally detached. Can’t really feel some emotions as they should be, but sometimes I do. They mean that I’m not sexually interested in stabbing people.” I said. “Oh. The extreme ends, you mean?” He concluded. I gave him a thumb’s up sign and peered over at his side of the screen. “Oh. It’s PTSD. Just like I thought.” I winked. I should be concerned, I think, but it would come when the time arises. He groaned at me. “How the hell do you figure these things out?”

“Thank the Heavens for my _amazing_ observational skills.” I laughed, one step closer to the answer. “I don’t like your devious expression.” He admitted. “Stop trying to solve my case.” A smirk crept onto my face. “No.”

A small slot slid open on the table top, and out came a bottle of antipsychotics and antidepressants. I pocketed mine. “You should eat some now. I eat one a day; yours should be the same.” He read the tiny text on the bottle. “Yup.” Unscrewing the cap, Ryan poured out one white pill out onto this hand and popped it in his mouth.

“Mmm.” He screwed his eyes shut at the bitter taste. “Take this.” I froze a cup and added water into it, passing it to him. He grabbed it like his life depended on it, downing it quickly. I quickly grabbed the water that was about to splash over our laps and evaporated it into the air. “That’s the worst thing I’ve tasted.” He cringed. “Can’t be worse than tomatoes.” I ‘tsked’ at him.

“I’ll gladly eat them for you.” He rolled his eyes. “By the way, Ell?” I looked up at him. “Yes, poppet?” He hesitated before replying, “Can you come over tonight? You hate sleeping anyway, and I have bad night terrors.” I sighed. “No, what the hell,” He pouted at my reply. “That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to sleep.”

“So, you’re not coming?” He confirmed. “I’m coming over, and _you_ are going to sleep.”  He sighed in relief, then asked, “But you’re not sleeping?” I sighed in mild annoyance. “I am! I’m not nocturnal and diurnal. By the way, HealthCube. How long more do I have to sit here?”

The Cube answered shortly, “ _You will be done in 27 seconds._ ” I grinned at Ryan. “Yay! Any side effect after treatment?” I asked again. “ _Unfortunately, yes, my lady. You will not be able to walk for 3 days, as you would need your tendons to fully recuperate._ ” The HealthCube sounded strangely concerned. Weird. It had more emotions that I ever had. If someone died here, would they cry?

“That sucks. Mind if you help me?” I grinned at him. “Sure. Come on.” I looped my right arm around his neck, peering at the ground far away from me as I was picked up in one swift motion. “Why are you so light?” He mused, leaving the HealthCube. “Are you fishing for compliments?” I rolled my eyes. “What? No.”

A pair of gloves were already waiting outside to collect the foldable chair that we had sat on earlier. “Hey, you missed out my transport.” I looked back, behind his shoulder.

“I can’t possibly carry a floating wheelchair _and_ a lady.” He rolled his eyes, pressing a blue tile on the floor with his foot where the staircase was. The spiral staircase unfolded from the ceiling and we went back up to the ground floor.

“What good timing. We’re done setting up the rooms.” Lysander grinned. Ryan headed up the stairs and to the landing, where the gloves unfolded the flat wheel chair and he sat me down on it. It was floating slightly above the ground, without wheels or legs. Two arms unfolded out of the chair where I could rest my forearms on, and a small screen which I waved away. “Get well soon?” Lysander petted my head.

“Why is that a question? I’m well, I just can’t walk for 3 days.” He blinked. “Oh, okay then.” Halcyon popped out of the toilet, closing the door behind her. Just as Lysander opened his mouth to update her, she waved it off. “I heard everything.”

“Yeah, by the way,” Ryan gestured to the rooms, “You guys can expand your room, since two of you are using the same room. Feel free to take up 50% of the mezzanine.” Lysander’s eyes lit up like a child’s. “Hell, yeah!” Halcyon smacked the back of his head, getting him to shut up.

“And to confirm, we’re getting 50% as well.” I added on, “This sounds like a business deal.” That brought a smile to all our faces. “That means that the two of you are going to share a room?” Halcyon was barely hiding her excitement. I gave her my death glare, then grabbed the screen from Lysander’s hands. “He’ll die before anything stupid happens.” For some reason, my hand could pass through it, yet hold it at the same time. I could sense Ryan give Halcyon a wink. I glared up at him. “Geez. Sorry.” He laughed.

The screen read, ‘ _Room Configuration_ ’. “Set room space to 50% each.” I told the device, tapping the ‘two rooms’ button. “Please choose the various amenities and items that you would desire to be in these rooms.” The device prompted. “Okay. Walk-in cupboards, Personal Beauty Assistants, Television, fancy lighting, tables, tea table and chairs, a nice rug, bedside table, tub, a shower, that should be all we need.”

“All this is going to cost me a bomb.” Lysander sighed, whipping out his phone. “Let me check my balance…” Ryan and I shared a worried look while the rooms morphed to accommodate to the new changes. “Oh, fuck.” Lysander cursed. “All that just cost 1.5 million Syls! A hundred thousand on the feet repair, a few hundred on 30 bottles of antidepressants and antipsychotics, food, drinks, and 1 million for the room enhancements. Food and drinks as well. The price went up because we’re out of the Aether. Shipping fees suck.”

“What was your total?” I asked. “30 million. That took me the past 80 years, mind you.” Lysander chided. “Sorry, man.” Ryan said sheepishly. “It’s no big deal.” Lysander waved it off. “I can get you back the 3 million and pay for all of our expenses.” Ryan grinned, hinting onto something. “Trust me, you’ll get it back. The last time this kid had access to a shitload of money and the stock market, he bought back a quarter of a million dollars for the sponsor.”

“Sure, why not?” Lysander grinned. “Was that sponsor Alfred Montgomery?” I nodded. “That’s my uncle.” He winked. “Oh, without his cash and social position, I wouldn’t have gotten to participate in tons of art competitions and get big bucks of prize money; not to mention the artistic martial arts competitions as well. Half of it went to my foster mom, who’s still overseas.”

“Oh,” I added, “And Ryan over here, has won multiple national Math Competitions and not to mention, get his cash to further sponsor people like us.” He laughed sheepishly. “By the way, is there a way to convert our cash into Syls? The money in our bank accounts, I mean.” Ryan asked.

“Yeah. About that. We’ll change it later and add in your new, temporary and fake account. Can’t let the others know about you, if not there’ll be a dimension-wide royalty hunt.” Halcyon laughed. “Damn. If there’s a way to make the money in the account stagnant, a façade of sorts, anyone checking up on us won’t figure out that money is going in and out of our account.” Ryan pointed out.

“The rooms are done. It says that further design customizations are free.” I passed Lysander the screen. “Good for me, I guess.” He sighed. “See you guys later, then.” I waved, moving towards our door. “For dinner. By the way, take your own screen.” Halcyon pointed at the wall before closing the door. Ryan pressed his palm against the wall, and the wallpaper faded to show a screen. “Cool.” He said, opening the door for me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Saturday, next week.


	6. Chapter Six: Beautifications

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff.

"Huh. Everything's white." I brought my floaty chair to the bed. "Woah." The chair rotated so that the base was resting on the edge of the bed. The arms simultaneously retracted, allowing me to maneuver myself onto the bed. "The bed's soft and comfy." Ryan leaned back onto the cushions to my left. "Shoes off." I reminded, taking mine off as well. "Yes, Princess." He laughed.

"Mm. Fluffy." I hugged a soft neckroll and reclined onto the bed. "Can the screen float?" I looked over. Ryan threw it up into the air, and it hovered over us, expanding slightly. "Yes, it can. Let's customize the wallpapers. Damask is nice."

"Black base, silver, blue and green as accents." I instructed, the walls warping as desired. "Little floating white fires as lights." I could sense Ryan's aura turn a Kelly green of excitement. What a child. "How about making the ceiling transparent?" The ceiling complied. "Let light in, but not heat and UV rays and weird smells." He grinned. I gave him a weird look.

Clouds drifted across the sky lazily. "Okay then. Please preview how it would look like during different weather conditions." Light rain drizzled, letting in petrichor. Thunder flashed overhead, the sky turning dark. The rain subsided, the clouds turning wispy, and it started to snow. "Cool." I raised my eyebrows, impressed. "One more. Show us the night sky." Ryan grinned. The sky darkened with a velvety deepness, stars twinkling back at us. Very nice.

The façade faded back into the blue sky. "We are keeping that. Add a branch chandelier. Make the whole room damask themed. The arm chairs should be velvety and pthalo blue. The tea table, glass." The arm chairs and tea table to the north west of the bed were painted in those colors. "The floating corner shelf next to the bed," I pointed. "Black." He yawned, stretching. "I'll put some plants there later. I'll bring up a bowl and cups later, the summoning kind."

"Black bedside tables and cupboards as well." He rolled over to his side and closed his eyes. "Don't sleep." I smacked his face with my bolster. "Mm." He groaned. I continued, "A nice viridian green silk rug would be great. The room divider at the toilet is going to have black borders and a cherry blossom design. The table next to the rug in front of the bed—"

"Marble. Black legs." Ryan agreed with my nonverbal thought. "Okay. Marble or hardwood for the floor?" I jabbed him in the ribs. "Ow. Hardwood. Marble's too cold." Okay then. "Rosewood, it is. I think the bedsheets should be this theme." I selected a light blue and green color scheme. "I don't care. It's whatever." Ryan said into the pillow. "It's a bit hard to move over to the toilet, so I think I'll just sit here." The screen split, showing the toilet.

"Marble tiles in the toilet. You don't have a say in this." I pressed down on the pillow where his face was. "Don't sleep." He ignored me. "Okay, whatever. Let everything in the toilet be light blue." All the items changed respectively. The toilet seat was near the door, the sink next to it. The shower was at the upper right hand corner, a mat at the door. A towel cupboard was next to the door, on the other side, and directly in front of the cupboard was the pool tub. "Swirly frosted glass for the shower, and blue tiles for the pool. Silver, green and blue tiled walls."

"Wake up, you piece of shit." I smacked Ryan with my bolster until he sat up. "You're so mean." He whined. I grabbed the screen from the air, splitting it in half and passing it to him. I left mine floating, so I could get back into the floaty chair. "I'm taking the door closer to the wall." I moved over to my wardrobe. "Then I'll take the one closer to the toilet door." He got up from the bed, trying not to sleep.

"Don't even deny that you have problems sleeping, because you were having troubles staying awake." I reminded him. "Yeah, yeah." He strolled over and entered his walk-in wardrobe, closing the currently white door behind him. "Let me guess. A white door."

"YES," He shouted. "IT IS." I opened my door and went in. "I can hear you well enough. Stop shouting. A black door for me then." The screen went blank. " _Please choose the formal fashion sense that fits you most. The Wardrobe will adapt to your needs._ " The screen instructed.

It was empty, but followed the dark damask theme that we had requested. There were no clothes hanging on my left, and a chaise lounge sat in the center. A vanity table was at the end of the walk-in wardrobe. Shoes went below the clothes pole, accessories in the next section.

"Blue, black, silver, green, maybe gold. What's the usual Elysium fashion style?" The screen flashed images of large and flowy bliaut sleeved dresses with circle skirts, cinched in waists and various necklines were shown. Most displayed a lot of the chest and bare back and highlighted the collar bone. Most of the dresses looked like Cersei's red dress. "That's nice. How about the other Courts?" The screen wiped itself, then showed the fashion of Arcadius.

The dresses were mostly chitons and togas, varying between column skirts and large princess skirts with some pleated flare. The togas had cloth draped over a shoulder, fastened neatly with a medallion and belt. All of them were sleeveless. Those that wore the chitons had a long and flowing shawl draped over their forearms, behind their back. Most wore gladiator sandals.

Next up was the fashion trends of Incendia. It seemed to be a fusion of the Vietnamese Ao Dais and Chinese Cheongsams. Some of them looked more like Ao Dais, but with Mandarin collars and buttons. They still had the typical high slit and long flowy pants. Others were likened to the Cheongsams, the same mandarin collar, but short sleeves this time. The dresses were figure hugging, with either mermaid skirts or high slits. All of them had elaborate embroidery.

Last but not least, was fashion of Acierus. The dresses were common to the French Renaissance; mostly three quarter sleeves, tiered skirts to give it a larger appearance. The skirts were not gargantuan, but it looked as big as Alice's skirt in Wonderland. Some were sleeveless, and sported the heart shaped neckline. The bodices were laced in front.

" _Moving on, please select your casual dress._ " The screen instructed. " _Normal casual dresses are bustier tails, but you may choose the color, neckline and length._ " I nodded. "Black, all sorts of blues and some greens for the main color, accents in silver and gold. Darker colors for the jacket, I guess. So how is the bustier tails like?" The screen explained once again, showing images.

" _There are four parts to the outfit. The top has a zip at the back. Above that, is the underbust corset. Black tight slacks are worn. The whole outfit is covered by women's cut tails. You may attach a skirt to the base of the corset, and the outfit will be transformed into a dress._ "

"Oh. So, it looks like the outfit that the Scarlet Witch wore in Avengers." I snapped my fingers. "Keep the slacks black. I think the Queen Anne's neckline will be nice." The screen blanked. " _Would you like your capes and cloaks to be dark green?_ " I tapped the 'yes' button on the screen. " _As for shoes, what would you like?_ " I snapped my fingers. "Give me three pairs of black boots. One flat, one slightly heeled, and one with three inch heels."

" _Please choose your hairstyle and types of hair ornaments._ " The screen showed variations of hairstyles and updos. "Chignons are nice, and hair sticks and hair combs would look great." Ryan said from next door, "I'm done. Meet you outside." I yelled, "Don't sleep!" He ignored me.

" _For your maquillage, what features would you like to highlight?_ " The screen enunciated. "Eyes and lips. Do you have lip stain?" I asked. " _Indeed. It will stay for up to a week, and will not smudge nor rub off. Would you like a glossy or matt finish?_ " I always thought that glossy lips would look weird. "Matt. I don't need fake eyelashes; they're too long and thick, fall out too easily. Pisses me the hell off when it gets stuck in my eye."

" _We have already taken your measurements from scanning you previously. You may leave whenever you desire. Your requested attire will be ready in one hour's time. Your personal assistants will be at the ready._ " The screen said. Five little sylphs floated out. They were holograms, with the same hair, wings, face and arms. One landed on my shoulder.

"Okay. Thanks. I don't need your help now." They bowed, and disappeared. I turned around, opening the door and rolling out. "Took you a while." Ryan said, opening the room door for me. "Thanks. Lots of thing to attend to. Dinner?" I grinned. He nodded. "By the way, let me try something," I grabbed his hand, drawing glamor, wishing to appear downstairs.

"Woah, what the fuck?" Ryan exclaimed, but not too loudly. "Yeah, new trick I learnt a few days ago," I grinned. "I can't teleport people." He pulled out a chair for me. "Thanks." My floaty chair slotted itself between two chairs, and sat down on the chair he just pulled out. He took his seat on my left. "Is this Chinese food?" Ryan pointed at the food that just arrived.

"It's 烂面条 (lan mian tiao). That's basically noodles in soup cooked for ages, until it's soft and breaks easily. Adding vinegar makes it taste nicer. I would add sesame oil, but I'm not sure if the kitchen has some." I explained. "Adding mushrooms and cabbage add to the taste, as does the chicken."

Another pair of gloves brought the vinegar and the sesame oil, followed with another with the utensils. "I'll use chopsticks." I took them from the gloves. "Everyone should use them to learn." Ryan gritted his teeth at me. "I love those noodles!" Halcyon said from upstairs. "Oh, those. My grandmother made them for me all the time when I was a kid. It has been a long time since I've eaten some." Lysander grinned, reminiscent of old memories.

They both took their seats. "Dammit. I can't use chopsticks. These are gonna give me hell, because the tips are like pinpricks." Halcyon sighed, placing them in her hands. "Hold it this way." Lysander arranged the sticks so that it rested in the right positions. "Like this?" Ryan showed me. "Yup. Now try picking up the noodles."

The noodles slipped from his grip, and he changed back to the easy way. "Don't take the easy way out. You'll never learn that way." I replaced the chopsticks. "This sucks." Halcyon and Ryan said simultaneously. "This will be interesting." I poured the condiments into both mine and Ryan's bowl.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll use my left hand instead. Since you're left handed, just copy whatever I'll do." I swapped hands. "In the worst-case scenario, we'll have to feed them." Lysander laughed at their supposed demise. "I'm not letting you do that unless my arms have fallen off or have been broken." Ryan stated. "Good. Now learn." I pointed at his chopsticks.

"It doesn't make a difference if you're ambidextrous." He pointed out. "Mmm. Tastes way better with sesame oil and vinegar." I sighed. "Just use the spoon. You're more hopeless than Halcyon." I passed it to him. "Thanks." He accepted without saying anymore. "My fingers are cramping from trying too hard. Pass me a spoon." Halcyon reached over and waggled her fingers. I passed it to her.

"That's all?" Ryan asked. "Yeah. It's relatively filling." I grinned, tucking in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brace yourselves for the next chapter; not so fluffy anymore.


	7. Chapter Seven: Mastigophobia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Watch out. Panic attacks, Sadism, and crazy things.

"I'm done." Ryan placed his bowl down on the table with a soft 'clink'. I looked over; indeed, he was done eating. The large ceramic bowl was empty. "It's steaming. Scalding hot." I blew the clouds of heat away from my face. “No, it isn’t,” came the reply from the two guys. Halcyon blew on her food, slightly peeved, stirring it around to cool it down. “Is it possible for you to absorb heat?” Lysander stared at the ceiling, putting a hand on both bowls. “Haven’t tried that before. How do you know about my lineage?” He asked, a flurry of red drawing into his hands.

“I can see it in your aura, in the identity plane. There are a few auric planes; identity, soul, power and emotion. Most can see all the auras, and some emotion, but very few can change it, apparently. The book I read said that auric power is closely linked to identity, and that only a handful can fully master the power of auric soul healing. They didn’t say how, though. I don’t know about you guys, but I see souls as little colored hearts. Others see a flame, or anything that they imagine.” I explained. I swapped back to the identity plane, where there were myriads of blues and metallic grays, with slivers of red.

“Seems to be working.” He gestured at the lack of steam wafting up by raising his eyebrows. “Yay.” Halcyon and I chorused.  “The screen waiting for further commands.” Ryan pointed at the screen and crossed his arms. I nodded. Now that the food was colder, I could eat my food without my tongue being pan-seared. _News?_ I signed with my right hand, and repeated myself shortly after swallowing. The screen abided, flicking to a random news channel. It landed on CNN.

“On the news tonight,” The news reporter flipped through her papers and looked up at the screen with a nod. “The law has decided the punishment for Draco Delarosa, which will be a death sentence. Just a quick recap, if any of you have been missing the news lately,” She trailed off, waiting for images to flash to the screen. “Draco Delarosa was apprehended by the police a week ago, as he was found with several suspicious items found in his basement. A cat o’ nine tails whip, shackles and other gruesome torture devices.”

The images flashed quickly, showing a dingy basement with very obvious bloodstains on the floor, with an old hanging light as the only source of light in the room. The picture flickered away quickly to show a tall and hulking beast of a man with a menacing snarl of a contempt and hatred, ironically subdued by mere handcuffs and two policemen. He was shoved into a police car, the reporters swarming the car like ants around candy.

The air crackled with electricity, and a moment later, I felt Ryan’s presence disappear. The door slammed, reverberating throughout the house. “The case was deemed urgent, and pushed forward on the waiting list. The victim of Draco Delarosa remains unknown. The authorities do know that the victim was not murdered…”

Lysander’s gave me a look that spoke volumes. The auras were telling me that he was stunned, afraid, plunged into realization; a ‘shit!’ kind of expression. The reporter had just spilled the beans, in some way. Meanwhile, Halcyon was confused. I took my food and teleported upstairs, sitting outside the door. The floaty wheelchair had provided a table, which I pulled my bowl on.

It was plain obvious. Who else would the victim be? “Draco Delarosa has admitted that he had tortured the victim for ‘a wonderful 10 years’, and that he did it because the ‘disobedient boy had not deserved to live’, he was quoted to say.” All the evidence added up.

Firstly, it would be hard to tell someone else about it, and the longer it was kept secret, the harder it was to tell someone else. Hence it explains the 10 years of secret keeping. I wouldn’t blame him for it, like I had said earlier, because he had no reason not to tell. There would also be consequences if he had told anyone, because that person would probably try to save him, and get hurt in the end.

Secondly, he hated it when others hugged him, or touched any area near the neck and back. I was the only one so far that had actually been allowed to do so. Every time I had hugged him, I could feel the scars beneath his shirt. Like he said earlier, I would figure it out before he could have the chance to tell me. _He was giving me clues._ Fuck. I am an _idiot._ It’s a first. It would be the last.

Thirdly, the disability to partake in swimming lessons. Obviously, Delarosa was a smart man, with power, no doubt. _Anything_ to prevent anyone from knowing. I was a sadist, but I would never do it to a person unless it was in the name of legal justice. Unless they did a major crime, like unlawful murder. Whipping was crude. There are other ways to get words out of someone, in less crude ways. Even if that sick motherfucker did exactly what I said, his ideas were warped. And that sick motherfucker deserved this punishment. I had a plan _just for that_. But I needed to get in.

“Hey.” I knocked on the door thrice. There was no reply. “If you’re not gonna open this door, I’ll make you do it.” I added on, waiting. Still no reply. “ **Ryan, open the door. Please.** ” I muttered, directing my vocally enhanced voice of multiple pitches beyond the door. The door unlocked, swinging open. “ **You need rest.** ” I continued, and he walked to the bed in a daze. I closed the door behind me before following him to the bed. “Shoes.” I reminded, taking his off for him. He probably couldn’t hear me, but that didn’t matter.

“Shut up. Go away. Please. Stop.” He hissed, shaking like a leaf. With some difficulty, I got onto the bed. “Me?” I asked. He didn’t reply, but continued shaking. I patted his back gently, but drew away when he stiffened. Instead, I delved into the auric planes of emotion. His was almost fully engulfed in opaque and suffocating black wisps, with little darts of contemptuous burgundy. Then I looked at mine. Calm pale blue, scarlet anger and saffron worry. All of them transparent.

Black and red churn out another color, too fast. What if I absorbed the black aura, and swapped it with my calm blue? The opposites couldn’t exist in the same plane at the same time—the more powerful emotion would replace the less powerful emotion, or the both would mix into something else. I peeled off his fingers, giving him my hand. He grabbed my hand like a lifeline, popping all my stiff knuckles in a white-knuckled grip.

My fingers started to numb.

“I’ll do it quick.” I murmured, wincing at his strong grip. I tugged at a strand of the black wisp, and it flowed up the path of my arm, mixing with the rest. I was already feeling the side effects. Heart palpitations trembled my veins, sweat forming on my temples. The world warped, some colors dulling, and some brightening, similar to when I was off medication for a long time. I needed to stab something. _Badly._ Drink the blood. Feed them their fingernails and watch them choke to death!

* * *

 

“I’ll do the monarchy a favor by removing your tainted bloodline!” Delarosa growled with malicious intent. I felt the old wounds on my back split open, the familiar deep dragging and slicing of nine razor blades. Voices of torment swirled around like a typhoon.

But the worst of all, was the bone-chilling sound of the nine razor blades cracking through the air, filling every soundless crevice of my mind with true hell. Flickering yellow lights. _Crack!_ Blood splatters. Dripping. _Whapush!_ Brown bandages hanging to dry. Flying spit. Vulgarities.

Then the numb faded, plunging me into the all too familiar pain at its worst extent. “Shut up. Go away. Please. Stop.” I begged and called for help, floored and unable to push myself up.

But nobody came…

...!

A hand reached out towards me, appearing from the darkness. I grabbed it out of desperation. The dark void started to fade _into_ the hand. The voices and pain went with it, and slowly but surely, I was able to stand. This continued until I stared into the darkness of my own closed eyelids. A large sigh of relief escaped my lips. Panic _later_.

I sat up, blinded by the glaring light. Ellinia was laughing hysterically. “Ell!” I grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her gently. She fell loose in my grip, her head thrown back with laughter and body convulsing with tear inducing laughs. Her pupils had narrowed into cat-like slits, the gold flecks turning into red. She only laughed like this when she was in pain. And the last time I could remember her doing this was when a girl stabbed a kitchen knife through her ankle in middle school.

“Sit up.” I told her, pulling her up by her shoulders. “Hahhahahahha… Can’t. Heh. Stop. Laughing!” She wheezed, looping her arms around my waist. The world plunged into color, and she was surrounded by the darkest and most suffocating blackish red I’d ever seen. Was the black haze from me? Probably.

“Hold on,” I winced, her nails digging into the crevices of my scars. I pulled out a flat box from her pants pocket, and took out a pill. I pulled her away, and placed a pill in her hand. She seemed to understand this motion, and swallowed the pill hurriedly. The laughter gradually died down. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thanks, poppet.” She wheezed, clutching her side. “No, thank _you_ for saving me from that _hell._ ” I fell back on the bed, looking at my shoeless feet. “And for taking my shoes off.” She laughed. “You’re welcome!” Ellinia tackled me in a hug, straddling my left leg and resting her face on my collarbone. “Your hipbone is really sharp.” I hissed, uncomfortably. “Sorry.” She chuckled, scooting over a little to the right. “Thanks. Do you need me to tell you anything else?” _Please say no._ She stared at me for what felt like minutes before answering, “No.” I breathed out the bated breath I held. “Seriously?” I asked again, doubting myself.

“Isn’t it worth pitying?” I mumbled. “No. Wanna hear my opinion?” I could hear her grinning. “Shoot.” I sighed. This could only go two ways. Going off the cliff was the most likely route. A fast, grisly death. “It’s what makes you, you. So, don’t hate them for what they are, because they are experiences that change the way you think, and you as a person _entirely._ Scars are proof that you’ve survived the greatest war in your life, and that you’re still here, _alive._ Other wimpy idiots wouldn’t even make it a step in, which says a lot, since you’ve gone through ten years of hell. And that is the most important thing that I need to know. Fear will forever live on in your heart; and that isn’t a downside either. Even the bravest people can be afraid, and fearing something just makes you stronger.”

“Wow.” I breathed, not sure what to say. “One more thing. Don’t let what others say affect you. Who are they to have a say in this? I know you don’t want pity; I don’t like pity too.” A large weight lifted off my chest. Not only did I not have to explain everything and recur the memories, she didn’t react adversely. Then again, she had a sadism disorder. That would definitely change her perception. “You haven’t even seen anything, and you’re already telling me that it looks great.” I joked. “You are _weird_.”

“That’s mean!” She pushed herself up onto her elbows, staring down at me. “Sorry.” I laughed. I was grateful for whatever she said, no matter how weird it was. Her lips curled upwards in a half grin. “Hey, you’re welcome.” She pecked me on the cheek. I got up and headed to the toilet, slightly giddy. “I didn’t say anything. Anyways, I’m gonna shower.” I could hear her getting into the chair and going behind the room divider as I take off my belt.

I hung the belt on the peg next to the bathroom door and peeked over the top of the room divider, which was conveniently below eye level. I caught a glimpse of skin, and then something landed on my head, obscuring my vision perfectly. “Thanks.” Another article of clothing landed on my head. I sighed, taking them off and entering the toilet. I dropped off the clothes in the laundry basket.

“Nice _frosted_ divider.” She pointed out with intention, casually sitting on the chair in only a sports bra and panties, heading over to the tub across the frosted divider. Her arms were well muscled and toned, and she had abs. Impressive. One look at my face and she laughed. “You have no boundaries.” I retorted, placing a green bathrobe on her head. “I do have boundaries. They are just further than yours are willing to stretch.” She hugged the robe and buried her face into it. “Mm. Fluffy.”

Water appeared in the tub, just as she opened the cupboard to get a small green disk. “Need help getting in?” I offered. “No.” She snapped, probably still annoyed. “Okay then. No reason to be mad, because it’s your fault that you openly passed me with barely anything on.” I rolled my eyes, unbuttoning my dress shirt. She retorted, “I’m not mad about that. Stop trying to peep at me when I’m changing. That’s creepy.” There was a small splash from the displacement of water. “Can I look now?” I threw my shirt into the laundry basket and grabbed a blue bathrobe, which I threw over the frosted glass. “NO!” She yelled. “Too late.” I laughed. She was hugging her legs to her chest, her hair covering most of the visible skin. “ **I _hate_ you for this.**” She seethed, her voice taking on multiple pitches. “Chill—”

“I’m not even peeking at you. You’re the person with problems showing skin to other people.” She snapped, words cutting deep. I flinched, and went behind the glass. “Sorry. It wasn’t my place to say that.” She sighed. “Yeah, me too. Here. Have a look.” I turned to show her my heavily scarred back, nerves jittering, eyes closed. The silence was suffocating. Fuck. I busied myself with taking off the other articles of clothing. Don’t think about it.

“I like it.” She said, sighing. It was messed up for her to say that, but it’s Ellinia, and she wouldn’t say anything else that wasn’t like that. It was her way of accepting it, I guess. “You’re awfully ripped for someone that barely exercises.” She added as an afterthought. “Is that an insult or a compliment?” I closed the glass shower door and breathed a sigh of relief when it turned opaque. “I’ve been training the whole of last week. The ambrosia does work wonders. I didn’t have much fat to begin with, anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I could hear her rolling her eyes. “Can you make the water warmer?” I stepped back from the icy cold water pouring out of the shower head. “Thanks.” I answered, the water turning comfortably warm. “The personal assistants are laying out our clothes.” I saw shapes fluttering outside of the door. “Cool.” She laughed. “Cool? Okay then.” The temperature of the water dropped drastically.

“Not that cold!” I shouted, teeth chattering. She had a good laugh, warming up the water again. The light blue soap washed off into the drain. “Quick. I need to shower too.” She reminded me. I stepped out of the shower, jittering from the cold whoosh of air. The water ceased to drip off me, and my hair crackled upwards. “You’re welcome.” She said, again. I quickly wore the cotton long sleeved shirt and pants before heading to the sink to brush my teeth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, blame the late post on homework.


	8. Chapter Eight: Catharis

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be violence ahead. Please read with caution. (o.o)
> 
> Uh, here's a summary if you don't like bacon plus violence: BASICALLY our main character friends do some questionable deeds, and they get away with it. JUSTIFIED. If you're that scared, just close one eye and peep through the other and scroll till you see the third line break.

"Great. My turn." She got up, the minty green water swirling. I caught a glimpse of a very smooth back and a bombshell butt. Damn. "What did I say about peeking?" I quickly looked back down at my toothbrush, sheepish. The personal dressing sylph assistants draped the bathrobe around her shoulders. "No peeking for 5 minutes." I heard the water turn on.

"Done." She said 4 minutes and 39 seconds later, dressed in a plain shirt and shorts, with a sleeping robe draped over. After I was done, I exited the toilet and hopped into bed. She followed shortly after, turning off the lights.

I slipped into bed, which wasn't too warm, and grabbed the bolster that I had hugged earlier on. "The stars are nice." He murmured, wrapping his right arm around my waist. A memory flashed by, and an idea popped into my head. "Do you want some revenge?" I asked, giggling a little. "What for?" He asked, confused. "Go to sleep." I avoided the question. "Okay." He yawned, and fell asleep within a few minutes.

* * *

 

When I finally fell into light REM sleep, I yanked on my glamor and reached for Ryan's soul. I pulled on our souls, and we both woke up—not quite. "What the hell?" He jolted, staring at me incredulously. We were both translucent, and surrounded in greens and blues of glamor. "This must be a dream. I'm still sleeping there!" He pointed at his sleeping body. "That is fucking _creepy_." I laughed, "No, silly. We're in the spirit plane. Let's go somewhere." I reached out for his hand. "Hold on tight." He complied, grabbing my left hand.

We appeared in Lincoln Correctional Facility. It was the temporary holding site for Delarosa. He was pacing his totally enclosed cell, agitated. Suddenly, he spun. "Oh, lookie here." He drawled. Ryan tightened his grip. "Who did you bring, boy? And who might you be, lass? Or shall I call you Lady Alysworth?" He laughed.

"Are you asking for certain death?" I put left hand behind my back. He advanced. I didn't expect other Aetherians to be able to see us, much less _touch me._ He passed three coarse fingers down my cheekbone and grasped my face with both hands. They were _disgustingly_ warm. "Don't you _dare_ fucking touch her." Ryan's voice took on another level of menace, one that I had never heard before. An ordinary person would cower in fear, but Delarosa and I weren't ordinary people. They were exactly the same height, standing eye to eye. Delarosa dropped his hands with feigned fear. "Oh dear. Looks like I'd laid more than a finger on her beautiful face." Ryan stepped next to me and grabbed Delarosa's collar and pulled him close. He was a few inches taller than Ryan, and at least two times bigger in muscle bulk. "I will fucking _end_ you." His voice dripped with the deadliest venom.

I grinned, crossing my arms, letting Ryan do whatever he wished to do. "I'd like to see you try." Delarosa laughed, coldly. "You've failed for the past 10 years to stop me, and now you try again after countless failures. Let's see how badly this one ends." He laughed. Then I laughed.

"What are you laughing at, cunt?" He snarled. "You didn't just say that." Ryan laughed bitterly, throwing him onto the ground. "Oh, the irony in your words." I waved it off, increasing the darkness of the red hue surrounding Ryan by sucking it from Delarosa. It was now the darkest shade of scarlet.

Delarosa tried to get up. "Ha. Get fucked, asshole. A little change in gravitational fields never hurt nobody." Ryan grinned, smug. "Didn't have access to my powers ten years ago. Now's a different story."

"This is going to be an electrifying experience." I chuckled, taking a seat on the chair near them. Electric currents coursed through Delarosa, who was screaming in pain. His skin started to singe and burn at several spots, those that hurt the most. The skin turned red, then raw, then white, and brown. Some parts started to cook, and it looked oddly like bacon. That made me hungry. Delarosa's muscles were jittering uncontrollably. "The perfect orchestra." I grin at Delarosa, who glared at me since he couldn't move.

The crimson stood out nicely against the white walls and floor, and on his orange outfit. "FUCK you, and your FAMILY, and your WHOLE SHITTY LINEAGE—" He was cut off by a jolt of electricity. "ALL of you will SUFFER for all that you've done." He was shocked again. "And what did we do? —" He cut me off, "You EXISTED. That is a crime of itself! Everyone! EVERYONE MUST CEASE TO EXIST! There is a need to cleanse the Aether from the likes of you, but you are stopping me from it!" He roared, spit flying. Since he was stuck in his own gravitational field, the spit just falls on his face. I laugh.

"Sing, little bird!" I laughed, and he did. "0.01 amperes isn't too bad." Ryan smirked. "Go ahead." I waved at him, letting him enjoy tormenting his tormentor. I let Ryan go on until Delarosa couldn't retort or even think straight. This mental barrier was down, and I would be able to use the Siren's Blessing to control him without trying too hard to break down any barriers.

"Okay. Take a break." I guided Ryan to the metal table at the side of the plain and padded white cell and sat him down on it. I pulled back the dark scarlet aura, and as the last bit left him, he let out a pent-up breath. "Had enough?" I asked. "Yeah. Yeah." He repeated himself, in a daze. "Should I have stopped you earlier?" His eyes were an extremely dark navy. He caught himself, sitting up straighter. The color of his eyes changed into it normal electric blue shades. "It's fine. Whatever I did to him, he'd done to me. We're relatively even."

_Relatively._ I smirked. "You're sure you don't want the killing blow?" I laughed. Ryan hesitated before shaking his head. He wouldn't hurt anyone, much less torture them, unless he thinks that they are deserving of that kind of treatment. Me? That was something else entirely. I only torture when I have the permission to, and make sure they regret what they've done. I honestly wouldn't mind torturing someone to get information, either physically or mentally. It didn't really matter—it was the expressions that did.

"Don't go crazy, please." He reminded, softly. "I won't." I patted his head, then stalked off towards the unconscious Delarosa. "Any last words?" I crossed my arms. He spat at me, the spit missing as I dodged out of the way, laughing. "Good try, _asshole_." I heard Ryan get up from his seat. "Your actions will have consequences," His voice was raspy and dripping with lethal poison. "My legacy _will_ AVENGE me!"

"Not the most ingenious line," I felt Ryan walk up behind me. "But that's what the King of Clichés would love to say on his deathbed."

"Let's go back." He grabbed my hand, nodding, and I willed our souls to return into our bodies.

* * *

 

The two spirits were tormenting the prisoner sitting on the chair. The spirits were probably sleeping elsewhere. They were like holographic forms, with blue and green auras surrounding them. The Delarosas, also in their spirit holographic forms and their bodies in the safety of a warm bed in the Aether, watched the man get tortured, slightly peeved. He was never loving to any of them, even his wife, but he was less cold towards them, taught them the fundamentals of self-defense and how the Aether and the mortal realm should be purged of the tainted and corrupted. He had told them to never get attached to something, for that something or someone would be killed or brutally murdered. Only someone that they could trust and rely on.

They had no weaknesses, no feeling, no sympathy. That was the core lesson that had been driven into them ever since they were young. " _Your actions will have consequences. My legacy will avenge me!_ " His voice was barely a whisper in the enclosed cell. The siblings looked at one another. Time to avenge their father, they guess. "Let's just do what the old man says this time," The older brother shrugs, tipping his head to his sister. "Sure, why not. I don't mind killing royalty. Makes the press scream about it." She laughed.

"We'll have to plan. The longer it is, the more torturous."

"Yes. And the more anticipation, the better the end result."

* * *

 

I dressed in the new pine green bustier tails that I asked for the previous day, which was surprisingly comfortable. The 'corset' wasn't really a corset, so to speak, as it helped to narrow your waist a bit, and remind you to stand straight. It camouflaged into the material or design below when worn. It was easy to take off and put on. The metal corset wrapped itself around your waist and fitted nicely, slotting its little jigsaw like edges into one another to secure itself. I could tug it gently, and it would retract to fall slack in my hands.

As I wore my boots, Ryan shuffled. "You're up?" He croaked. "Yeah. You slept like a log. Looks like you sleep better when your enemies are dead." He didn't answer until I was done with both shoes and stood up. "About what he said last night—" I waved it off. "Not important." He shook his head, getting up. "No," He signaled for me to pause. "He was talking to me. Not you."

"Wait—What?!" I exclaimed, my stomach churning. "He said legacy. He's talking about his kids, and those kids will come for your head. But we'll worry about that later, right?" I grinned half-heartedly, hoping for him to agree. "Fine." He sighed, getting out of bed.

"You still can't walk, right?" He asked, pointing at the chair. "You were fine yesterday in the dream world thingy." A screen popped up, and a ray scanned my feet. " _You may try and walk now. The recovery is 98% done._ " The voice said. "That's quick. The Cube said it would have taken three days instead of one." Ryan gave me both of his hands. I took them, and stood up shakily. "Woah." I wobbled, but was held still by his grip. "My feet are numb. Can't feel them." I raised my foot and shook it. Ticklish waves ran up my foot and into my shin.

"Just try walking." He walked backwards, forcing me to follow lest I fall back like jelly. "Let me try it alone." I said, walking to the door awkwardly. As each foot touched the ground, a wave of numbness shot up my leg. "I'll be fine. Just a little stiff, that's all. I'll be making pancakes, so don't take too long." I opened the door, letting the already folded chair out as well.

The chair shot back down and into the basement, as I walked down the stairs slowly. " _Ahhhh_." The door opened and Halcyon yawned, stretching out her hands. She was still in her sleeping garments. "Pancakes for breakfast. Hurry." I told her. The words took a while to get to her, and she replied a while later, shambling back into her room. "Oh kay..."

When the pancakes were done, only the guys were down. Halcyon walked out 5 minutes later, still looking tired. "What the hell is _that?_ " Halcyon's eye twitched, pointing at the iPhone 5 in Ryan's hand. I laid out her dish. "It's a phone." I stated, taking my seat. "That is _not_ a phone." Lysander cringed, summoning his phone. "This is." He gestured to the flat glass-like screen in his palm. The screen lighted up to show the time, becoming opaque. He crumpled the phone, and placed it on the table. The phone liquefied and reformed.

"We still need to learn how to store items and summon them, so nothing gets lost." I poured chocolate sauce onto my pancakes. "Sure. We'll learn that later." My phone shot to Ryan's hand from the tea table. "Check your old phone. I have tons of messages, and so do you."

"Delarosa was murdered?" Lysander and Halcyon chorused, reading from Ryan's phone. "Guess who made headlines!" I laughed, grinning at my food and stabbing it with my fork. My eye and fingers twitched. I twirled the silverware in my fingers. It was knife and sharp. "Wow, okay." He put down his fork and took his phone back. "I wasn't the only one there." I sighed. "You killed him." I waved it off. "Yeah, revenge is sweet but you kinda made it worse?" He asked, shrugging and giving me a sheepish look.

"Excuse me, young man. If I hadn't stopped you, you would have done worse than me." I crossed my arms at him. Both Lysander and Halcyon sighed and continued eating, saving the questions for later. The latter nudged him and pointed at me 'discreetly'.

"I have my own self-control, and I knew when to stop—" He retorted, voice steady. "Point is, there's no evidence left to say that you killed him—" I shot him another look, but was cut off. "There's a shared responsibility in this!" Ryan gritted his teeth, the metal simultaneously ratting on the table in suppressed rage.

"I'm not blaming you for anything." I sighed. We were arguing over childish things. I gritted my teeth to stop myself from retorting. We lapsed into silence. I could easily win the argument, decided against it. "You're guilty. Your humanity is appealing to you. Wasn't this the revenge that you had wanted all these years?" I said matter-of-factly, eating the last piece of pancake. He put his face in his hands and sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Late again. Apologies. I have a life too.

**Author's Note:**

> Get ready for the long ride to hell with our fucked up main characters.


End file.
